If you are a business owner, many, if not most, of your customers have one or more social media accounts. You should join them and put your business onto a site for social networking. Determine which sites your customers belong to, and incorporate them into your overall marketing stragey; if you don’t, you may be letting new customers and strong customer relationships slip away from you.
Let your customers know that you have turned to social media for marketing. Once they start following your page, all of their social media friends and followers will soon know they are following you. This is great for you because it’s advertising that you don’t need to pay for. It is also more valuable than ordinary advertising since it’s a referral.
Interaction with your customers should be one of your primary goals. If you feel comfortable doing so, you should leave comments on their Facebook page or blog posts. Just don’t interfere with personal discussions. If someone is discussing an issue that is related to your business, then you can contact them.
Regularly produce blog entries. Readers will keep coming back to see fresh content if they know when you will be posting updates. This is illustrated by the subscriptions that are made to newspapers and magazines. Be sure to post consistently so that visitors will return to your site.
Let followers know about different milestones you reach. You can simply write an article after you get up to one thousand Twitter followers. Be sure to thank your followers for having a vested interest in you and your work. Articles like this tend to go viral very fast.
It’s very simple for your Facebook followers to share posted content. Comments will appear on that person’s news feed so all of their friends see it. You should ask your visitors to ask questions and comment so that you get more visability with posts you have made.
Social Media
If a Twitter account is an essential element of your social media marketing campaign, make certain that your tweets show variety and intrigue. Send out tweets that contain suggestions and advice that have to do with your business. Your followers will stay interested if they can learn something from your tweets.
You will not get results right away. It requires lots of time to develop an effective social media strategy. Prior to announcing major social media efforts, take the time to get as many people as possible signed up to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Let people know in each post that they can follow you on multiple networks.
Try to focus on the things that people want when you are marketing through social media. If one customer has a suggestion, there is a good chance that many others feel the same way. Show them that you are actually hearing what they are saying, as well.
When working with social media to promote your business, it is crucial you work your promotions into as many social media outlets as possible. Facebook is immensely popular, but Myspace still has a following, and Twitter is increasing in popularity. The greater your exposure, the better likelihood your efforts will succeed.
Let all of your existing customers know if you are going to start being active in social media. Encourage them to join your page, as the social media venues will likely let all of their friends and associates in their network know that they have joined your pages. This is basically free advertising and shouldn’t be underestimated. It also has the potential to increase conversions, since it has the same function as word-of-mouth advertising.
A great way to do your market research is to use social media as a tool in getting feedback on new and existing products. People love to give their opinion, so ask the question and expect many answers in return. Doing so can give you a clearer idea about the wants, needs and motivations of your target audience. The best part, of course, is that this method is free!
By now, you should realize how effective social media marketing can be. You can show your followers what the goals of your business are, and you can build a relationship with them through frequent interactions. Experiment with social media to see if it can help you.